


Bend

by TeaRoses



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-08
Updated: 2013-01-08
Packaged: 2017-11-24 03:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/630048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaRoses/pseuds/TeaRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After decades, Pakku confronts Kana about why she ran away from him and from the Northern Water Tribe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bend

“I went to the other end of the world,” said Kanna in a musing tone. “And now you’re coming to see me?”

Pakku couldn’t hear her; he was still on his way to the house, bending the ice and snow into a path with dramatic motions of hands. When he had sent an announcement of his arrival, Kanna had raised her eyebrows and said little, but she had to admit to curiosity if nothing else.

“Kana!”

It was his voice, harsher with age but not all that different, and she opened the door rather than linger in her memories.

“Pakku,” she nodded.

“May I come in?”

A little surprised by his politeness, she opened the door and gestured to him to sit down.

“I am not certain what you expect me to say…” she began.

“Perhaps I’m not here to see you,” Pakku replied.

“Is there so much else in this place? A few children who have no bending abilities to interest you…”

“The Northern Water Tribe has ignored the South long enough,” said Pakku.

“That still doesn’t explain why you’re here in my home.”

Pakku sighed. “No. It doesn’t. Of course I wanted to see you. “

“To ask me why I ran away? Surely you realize that. Is it so ridiculous for a girl to want to choose her own husband?”

“That was never our way. Families know best for their children.”

“As if news never came to us from other places where girls had a choice. And I am not the only one who ran away,” said Kanna. “There were stories.”

“I was no stranger to you. Was I such a horrible young man that you could not imagine being married to me? And if it came to that, would your parents not have listened if you had simply told them instead of leaving?”

“Perhaps you were not so horrible. Egotistical, and even less inclined to believe in the power of a woman than the others. But that says everything – the others would have been no better. I wanted my own will. That shouldn’t be so shocking to you.”

“Because I’ve met Katara?” asked Pakku.

“Because you’ve met any woman. We all have our desires and needs, just like men do,” she said in a musing tone.

“You needn’t patronize me,” Pakku said.

“What would life have been like for me? Cooking your supper, rubbing your feet after a long day, doing my duties as a woman. Why would I want that?” Kanna said.

“And was your life so different here? Did you not cook for your husband when you married?” he asked.

Kanna nodded. “But I had a choice, and I also had a little respect. My husband loved me, you know.”

“I never said I didn’t respect you! And I could have grown to love you as well,” he said.

“Perhaps you never will understand then. I can live with that. Do you want tea?”

“Tea? You have tea here?”

“We trade with the Earth Kingdom when the war permits it.”

“I suppose,” said Pakku in a distracted way.

Kanna nodded, and filled the kettle with water. She regretted that she had to turn her back to him to do so, because she wanted to see the look on his face.

“What—what did you just do?” he asked.

“What did it look like?” she asked calmly as she hung the kettle over the fire.

“You can’t be a waterbender. It’s impossible. I would have known.”

“No one knew. I was already eleven years old when I realized it myself,” Kanna said.

“That’s—“

“It does happen,” she said.

“I have heard of such things, but why would you never tell anyone you had that power?” he asked.

“Because at that age I already knew I didn’t want to be a healer,” said Kanna. “And as we know, that was my only choice. When I was old enough, I left.”

“You… you ran away to be a waterbender? But Katara herself never said—“

“Katara doesn’t know either. When I arrived here as a girl, I already saw the Fire Nation dragging the first of the waterbenders away. My paltry skill was not enough to fight them. It was barely enough to fill a kettle, and there was no time for me to learn more. In the end they took away even the most powerful benders, so telling anyone I could bend water would only have meant danger. My husband knew, but he kept my secret.”

Pakku sat in silence for a few minutes. “This can’t be real.” 

“I will show you some other trick, if I must, but I can’t do anything impressive,” she said, pouring the hot water into cups.

“No. I saw you, and I believe you.”

“If I had had a chance to be what the men were, warriors, I might have stayed. I don’t think I would have married you, not if you kept your attitude toward women. But I suppose you wouldn’t have wanted a warrior for a wife anyway,” she said with a smile.

“I… might not have, no. I would never have understood such a thing. Until I met Katara I still didn’t.” 

Pakku seemed sad, and Kanna almost regretted speaking so harshly, but she had only been honest. “Do you understand any better now?” she asked.

“Perhaps. But tell me, why did you keep the necklace I gave you, if you were so angry at the idea of marrying me?” asked Pakku.

“Because it reminded me of who I was… a Northern Water Tribe girl, and a waterbender. And my daughter would know someday of the North, so I gave it to her.

“If you never tried, you don’t really know what your powers are.”

“Well, it’s much too late to think about what I could have accomplished with a real teacher.”

“I can teach you,” said Pakku.

“What would be the point, at my age?” asked Kanna.

“I have recently realized that even very old people can learn,” he said. “And I’ll be rather bored here, with no one else to teach.”

Kanna took a sip of tea and thought for a moment.

“You’ll only laugh at me.”

“Of course I will. I laugh at all my students. And I’m a terribly harsh teacher.”

Kanna nodded and put the teacup down. 

“Very well then. It would be worth it.”


End file.
